News

Tying Together GCC Missile Defense

—Marc V. Schanz7/27/2015

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​Even though several of the United States’ Gulf Cooperation
Council partners have invested in “tremendous” missile defense capabilities, the
US is advancing initiatives that aim to “better stitch together” those
capabilities in a more coordinated and holistic manner, the State Department’s
assistant secretary for arms control, verification, and compliance said July
24. Speaking at a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies breakfast on Capitol
Hill, Frank Rose
said the United Arab Emirates will soon receive its first Terminal High
Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile battery, the first of two on order, and
has already fielded PATRIOT PAC-3 missiles that provide lower tier point
defense. Saudi
Arabia and Qatar
also have PATRIOTs, he noted. After the US-GCC
summit in May at Camp David, Md., the US and its Gulf partners committed to
several initiatives to build up a regional capability, develop a multilateral
missile early warning system, and conduct a senior leader “tabletop exercise”
on missile defense in the Gulf region later this year, Rose said. The US is
also helping with a study for the GCC states to identify requirements, threats,
and existing capabilities in the region and determine how to fill gaps. “We are
seeking to ... foster a culture of sharing of information,” Rose said, which
will help US GCC allies recognize that their neighbors could enable better
defense of their own territory from missile attack.